[Alexus]

CHAPTER FOUR

In the lab, the Doctor and the Professor had been rewiring the Footprint datasheet for nearly an hour, until finally the Time Lord had plucked up the gall to confirm his suspicions. He licked one of the wires. What? “Is that…”

“Yes,” said Yana, “Gluten extract. Binds the Neutrino Map together.”

“But that’s food,” the Doctor replied, amazed. “You built this system out of food and string and staples.” He paused, realising the enormity of Yana’s task – civilisation had collapsed, but he and Chantho had single-handedly coordinated the construction of the most daring, audacious and brilliant space conveyance in a billion years. “Professor Yana,” he said, “You’re a genius.”

Yana smiled. “Yes, says the man who made it work.”

“Oh, it’s easy for the man at the end. But… you’re stellar.” Yana seemed half disbelieving and half shocked to hear it. Chantho was always nice to him, so he’d become desensitised to it, and Atillo just demanded and demanded and demanded more progress. “This is… this is magnificent.” Yana smiled and adjusted a control slider. “And I don’t often say that, ‘cos… well… ‘cos I’m me.”

“Well, even my title’s an affectation,” said the Professor, “There hasn’t been such a thing as a University in… oh, over a thousand years. I’ve spent my life going from one refugee ship to another.”

“If you had been born in a different time,” the Doctor told him, “You would be revered.” Yana chuckled. “I mean it. Throughout the Galaxies.”

“Oh, those damn Galaxies. They had to go and collapse.” He nodded. “Some admiration would have been nice, yes. Just a little. Just… once.”

“Well, you’ve got it now,” muttered the Doctor, threading some copper wire in between two control nodes. He looked up at Yana. “But that footprint engine thing. You can’t activate it from onboard. It’s gotta be done from here.” He grabbed another wire and plugged it into the control board. “You’re staying behind.”

“With Chantho,” replied the Professor, nodding. “She won’t leave without me. Simply refuses.”

“You’d give your life so they could fly.”

Yana smiled. “Oh, I should think I’m a little too old for Utopia. Time I had some sleep.”

“Professor?” It was Atillo again, Yana knew, voice booming out of that damn speaker. “Tell the Doctor we’ve found his blue box.”

“Ah!” said the Doctor, happily.

“Doctor?” asked Jack, looking down at a screen. The Doctor went over to join him, Yana following.

“Professor,” said the Doctor, pointing at the TARDIS on the screen, sitting among a pile of supply crates, “It’s a wild stab in the dark, but I might just have found you a way out.”

Yana stood in shock, staring at the screen, and the noise started again.

***

Yana was sitting down on a computer terminal, mind spinning, when the Doctor emerged from his blue box holding a thick power cable. The box had just… appeared in the lab. The Doctor had run out, mumbling something about a short transitive leap, and a few minutes later, with a noise that sounded like someone scraping keys over a piano wire, the box just… appeared!

“Extra power!” exclaimed the Doctor, running past Jack, who had been programming launch vectors. “Little bit a cheat, but who’s counting?” He reached a large enough outlet, and plugged in the lead, which fitted perfectly – it was lucky that the TARDIS’ power leads had chameleon properties that were still functioning. “Jack, you’re in charge of the retro feeds.”

“Oh, am I glad to see that thing,” said Martha, entering the lab with Chantho, both of them laden with datasheets.

“Chan – Professor,” said Chantho, going over to the Professor without delay, “Are you alright? – Toh”

“Uh… yeah, I’m fine,” mumbled the Professor, opening his eyes and nodding at the concerned woman reassuringly. “I’m fine. I’m fine! Just… get on with it.”

Jack pointed at Martha. “Connect those circuits into the SPA, same as the last lot,” he said, his finger moving down to the datasheets and then over to a bank of computers. His look became one of sternness. “But quicker!”

“Ooh, yes sir!” Martha replied, mockingly. Still, she ran over to the System Propulsion Accelerator computers and started slotting in the datasheets as fast as possible. The Doctor bumped past her and over to Yana, bending down to have their faces level.

“You don’t have to keep working,” he said, concerned. “We can handle it.”

“It’s just a headache, it’s just… this noise,” murmured Yana, as the Time Lord crouched down, looking even more concerned. “Inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise, inside my head.”

“What sort of noise?”

“Uh… it’s the sound of drums,” said Yana, after some thought, “More and more, as though it was getting closer.”

“When did it start?” asked the Doctor, taking off his glasses and tucking them away in his pocket.

“Oh, I’ve heard it all my life,” replied the Professor, “Every waking hour.” He inhaled sharply. “Still, no rest for the wicked,” he said, smiling. He stood up, and the Doctor smirked, rising himself and following Yana to one of the machines with a complicated acronym no one could remember the meaning of.

***

Martha and Chantho had been placing the circuits inside their holders for several minutes in silence before Martha tried to once again start up some kind of discourse. “So, how long have you been with the Professor?” she asked.

“Chan – Seventeen years – Toh,” replied the alien, taking another circuit sheet and placing it with a click into the machine.

“Blimey, long time,” Martha replied, wondering how Chantho could bear it.

“Chan – I adore him – Toh,” replied Chantho, as if she had always wished to say it and had never been able to, avoiding Martha’s gaze.

“Oh right, and he..?”

“Chan – I don’t think he even notices! – Toh.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Chan – But I am happy to serve – Toh,” Chantho said, her mandibles waving around in a most alarming manner.

“Do you mind if I ask,” Martha said, knowing that Chantho probably would, but would never say, “Do you have to start every sentence with Chan?”

“Well, Chan – Yes – Toh,” Chantho replied, amazed Martha thought there was another way of speaking.

“And end every sentence with…”

Chantho smiled at Martha’s naiveté. “Chan – Toh – Toh,” she told her. Humans and their funny ways, honestly.

“What would happen if you didn’t?” asked Martha, thoughtfully, wondering if Chantho would explode, or have a breakdown, or mutate into a giant wasp or something equally bizarre and alien.

“Chan – That would be rude! – Toh,” Chantho replied, astonished at the suggestion. She glanced to her left at the rest of the lab, hoping no one else had heard the exchange.

Martha did the same, then leant in slightly, and said, with a cheeky look on her face, “What, like… swearing?” She smiled.

“Chan – Indeed – Toh,” Chantho whispered, eyes darting to the left again.

“Oh, go on. Just once.”

Chantho was struggling to suppress laughter. “Chan – I can’t! – Toh.”

“Oh, do it for me.”

One more check that they were entirely alone, and Chantho was silent for a second or two, almost saying something and then stopping several times. Eventually, she whispered, “No!” She giggled.

***

In the command centre, which was now empty of all but the most essential personnel, Atillo leant over a vacant chair to the communication station. “Professor!” he demanded, and sighed. The screen was filled with static, the cyan bar at the bottom which told him who he was talking to blank. “Systems are down…” he muttered to himself, and typed in ‘YANA’ before saying again, “Professor, are you getting me?”

An image of the old man faded into view. “Yes, I’m here, we’re ready!” he exclaimed, urgently, “Now all you need to do is connect the couplings. Then we can launch.” In the lab, Yana watched as Atillo’s image vanished into static. “Gods save us, this equipment!” he complained, turning round to make sure his rant was fully received by everyone else in the room. Martha ran over to assist him. “Needs rebooting all the time!”

“Anything I can do? I’ve finished that lot,” the girl told him.

“Yes, if you could,” replied the Professor, getting out of his seat so Martha could take it, “Press the ‘reboot’ key every time the picture goes.”

“Certainly sir, just don’t ask me to do shorthand,” she replied. Yana considered asking what that was, but thought the better of it.

“Right,” he said, dashing off to make a last minute check.

“…Are you still there?” asked Atillo, fading back into view.

“Ah!” exclaimed the Professor, and rushed back to the screen. “Present and correct. Send your man inside. We’ll keep the levels down from here.” The screen faded out again, this time replaced with a view of the inside of a chamber bathed in red light, with five metal rods in the centre of it, suspended in a complicated system of wires and struts and supports.

“So, what are we doing?” asked Martha.

“For the rocket to launch, we need to unblock the Stedt Impeller System,” said Yana, trying to keep it sounding as simple as possible, “To do that, Corporal Jate there is going to suit up and enter the Rad Chamber, then release the five couplings. We have to do it just as the rocket I about to launch, or the radiation will overflow, the system will undergo a catastrophic feedback pulse, and the rocket will explode. Do you understand?”

“… sort of,” said Martha, who didn’t. “Thank you, it’s all much clearer now.” They watched as the door to the chamber opened briefly enough for a man in a bright yellow environment suit to slip in. He walked gingerly over to the five rods.

“He’s inside…” announced Atillo, quieter than usual, “and good luck to him.” Yana, whose leg had fallen asleep again – damn thing! – hobbled over to Jack and Chantho.

“Captain,” he said, pointing at a piece of machinery, the use of which temporarily eluded him. The only thing he could remember about it was the advice he gave Jack. “Keep the dials below the red.”

“Where is that room?” asked the Doctor, who was watching the Rad Chamber monitor.

“It’s underneath the rocket,” the Professor told him, “Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But,” he added, “the entire chamber is flooded with Stedt Radiation.”

The Doctor looked confused. “Stedt? Never heard of it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t want to. But it’s safe enough, if we hold the radiation back from here.”

Jate had reached the first coupling and was undoing the powerful seals that protected it, typing in the release code. He grabbed the top of the cylinder, carefully, and slowly pulled it out of the metal tube encasing it, before twisting it to the left and dropping it. It clicked into the new position to the sound of blaring alarms. Yana muttered, “Nought point two…” he turned round, and yelled, “Keep it level!”

Jack said, “Yes sir.”

Yana turned back to the screen to see that the Corporal had slid the second coupling into place. Atillo watched breathlessly, knowing how thoroughly in danger the brave soldier was.

…And the woman with the pointed teeth, senses whirling in the strange stone world in which she had found herself, hissed with satisfaction when she found a funny metal box bolted to the wall, opened it, and pulled down some strange little plastic things inside it.

The lights dimmed in the lab. “We’re losing power!” Chantho said, shocked, before hurriedly adding, “Toh!” Jack placed a hand on her shoulder, partly to reassure her and partly to reassure himself. The alarms blared louder.

Tired of fiddling with the plastic things and turning the big circles on the metal boxes, the Futurekind woman picked up a nice large metal thing, roughly as big as her torso, and effortlessly heaved it into the row of funny boxes. There was a satisfying explosion of sparks, and the lights dimmed yet again.

“Radiation’s rising!” yelled the Doctor, as the lab was filled with frantic activity, everyone trying to think of a way to halt the flow and failing.

“We’ve lost control!” roared Jack.

“The chamber’s going to flood!” said Yana.

“Jack!” that was the Doctor, pushing every button he could on one of the computers as he waved the sonic screwdriver over it, “Override the vents!”

Inside the chamber, Jate saw the warning lights, heard the alarms, and felt his skin begin to crawl with heat, as if thousands of tiny creatures were devouring it. Ignoring Atillo’s screams of “Get out!” he continued his work, punching in the code for the third coupling. “Get out of there!” roared Atillo, “Jate! Get out!”

In the lab, Jack realised what had to be done to halt the radiation. He grabbed a lead from one power socket, then tore out another. “We can jump start the override!” he informed the Doctor, frantically, and touched the two wires together.

“Jack it’s gonna fry-” the Doctor yelled instinctively, but stopped when he saw it was too late – the Captain’s body was spasming wildly as thousands of volts of electricity passed through it, frying synapses in the man’s brain, bursting blood vessels, cauterising his entire cardiovascular system. He screamed with agony long past the death of his brain, until he finally slumped down to the ground, dead.

Jack’s sacrifice had come at too late a juncture; Atillo looked away from Jate for a moment to see the radiation levels revert to normal for a moment, and then soar back up. “Jate, get out of there!” he yelled, “Get out!”

Jate’s eyes closed, his mouth opening – but no sound came out, as his tongue dissolved before Atillo’s eyes. The young man literally vanished in a blaze of heat, his radiation suit falling empty to the floor as the Lieutenant roared “No!”

“I’ve got him!” Martha said, crouching down next to Jack, checking his pulse.

“Chan – Don’t touch the cables! – Toh,” Chantho warned her, pulling the sparking ends of the power leads to the side of one of the computers.

“I’m so sorry…” Yana told Martha, voice full of regret, as she checked the pulse again, finding nothing.

“The chamber’s flooded with radiation, yes?” said the Doctor, quietly.

“Yes,” said Yana, and sighed. “Without the couplings the engines’ll never start. It was all for nothing!”

“Oh, I dunno…” replied the Time Lord, pensively, as Martha gave Jack the kiss of life for the third time. “Martha…” he muttered. “Leave him.” He walked over to where she was crouching, and taking her firmly by the shoulders pulled her away.

“You’ve got to let me try!” she protested.

“Come on, come on,” he said, as if she was a naughty child who wanted an extra helping of ice cream. “Just listen to me.” He released her, and looked into her eyes. “Now leave him alone.” She was silent, looking down at the Captain’s lifeless body. “Strikes me, Professor,” continued the Doctor, “you’ve got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?”

“Ha, yes,” Yana replied, sadly.

“Well…” said the Doctor, and with an almighty gasp Jack’s body was wracked with another great spasm, his lungs drawing breath once more, eyes snapping open – completely undamaged. The Doctor took off his glasses nonchalantly. “I think I’ve got just the man.”

Martha, Chantho and Yana were looking down at the Captain in utter disbelief as he struggled to lean up, supporting himself on his elbows and taking in as much air as he could. “Was someone kissing me?” he gasped.